It’s ok to be sad About Sports
How the loss of games affects fans, athletes, and employees
I remember the end of the 2020 baseball season clearly. I remember the Nationals winning one of the most improbable championships ever, a series where the road team won every single game. I also remember the league-wide backlash against Houston that followed not long after as the team’s sign-stealing scheme was finally unveiled before everyone. But I think I’ll remember the day when baseball was indefinitely postponed even more clearly.
In April of 2020, the World Series, the Astros’ sign-stealing, and really everything about the 2019 season seems like it took place decades ago. The act of watching a baseball game itself feels almost anachronistic, an echo of a long-lost time when gathering in large groups was a normal, safe activity. And I, like so many other fans, feel the loss of all sports keenly.
The absence of athletics is pretty trivial compared to a pandemic, but it’s ok to be sad that sports are gone right now. Or, to put it another way, the loss of these beloved activities still matters. Add in the thousands of people whose jobs depended on games being played, hundreds of athletes who may miss out on their one chance, sports journalists whose jobs are disappearing, and the cascading effects of sports taking an indefinite break are considerable.
The inspiration for this piece came from an article I read in Baseball Prosectus recently. Russell A Carleton wrote about the baseball season that is almost certainly lost, saying “We are living in a time of widespread grief. We are all mourning something.” Whether that something is going to a game, watching on tv, or just enjoying the shared social experience of a season, millions of fans lost something valuable this year.
Recently, I wrote about how Americans long to return to normalcy and how sports have provided that normalcy in the past. The absence of baseball and basketball is, in many ways, a reminder of how serious the pandemic is. But the NBA, and MLB have been around for so long that they seem almost invincible. As we saw in March, they’re not.
It’s also worth thinking about all the people whose livelihoods depend on sports. A comprehensive list of those individuals would start with people like stadium workers, team staff members, journalists, and many others that are escaping my mind at the moment. That’s to say nothing of Minor League baseball players, who almost certainly will see no playing time this year and already lived on meager salaries to begin with.
And what of the athletes who may miss out on crucial chances to prove themselves now? Every year for a professional athlete is crucial, and entire careers can hinge on getting the right chance at the right moment. When there are no games being played, those chances don’t, can’t, exist. This ripple effect spreads down to college athletics, too, where seniors who return for a (rightful) year of extra eligibility may push someone else off a team roster.
The loss of games has also been nothing short of catastrophic for the world of sports journalism and broadcasting, especially. Fangraphs.com is in serious trouble, despite an outpouring of support from its readers. Meanwhile, ESPN asked many of its highest-paid employees to take a voluntary pay cut. I hope these examples are temporary, but they could also be the tip of the iceberg for a struggling industry.
In addition, there’s future economic impacts to consider as well. MLB and the The Athletic‘s Peter Gammons wrote “most general managers realize that between today and 2023, the development underbody of MLB will face a considerable restructuring.” For the NBA, whose player salaries depend directly on league revenue, the effects of a shortened season or lost postseason may be even more pronounced.
Baseball and basketball have thrown around the ideas of expanding to new cities in the future. How will lost revenue this year affect those plans? Could the pandemic even lead to contraction instead of expansion? Gammons wrote that some people in baseball are concerned about the future of certain franchises, especially in terms of whether or not cities will be willing to shell out money for stadiums in the future. Where does this leave basketball? What happens in 2021 or 2022?
This isn’t intended to be a comprehensive list of how lost baseball, basketball, and (probably) football games affect sports, society, and the people around the leagues. I’m sure better writers than I will compile these lists, if they haven’t already. The ripple effects will surely stretch further than I have written here and may pop up years or decades down the line in ways I can’t even imagine.
But if you’re sitting at home today mourning the fact that you can’t watch a baseball game or an NBA playoff contest, know that it isn’t selfish to feel that grief. It is legitimately sad that sports aren’t being played right now and that we can’t turn to an activity that we usually enjoy. And for the thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on these leagues, that pain is even more acute.
Nearly everyone has lost something in this pandemic, even if it’s something relatively trivial (a baseball game) rather than tragic (a loved one). Some of us are hurting more than others, but that doesn’t mean that sadness over something small isn’t valid. It’s ok to mourn the little things in our lives that we take joy from. It’s ok to be sad that baseball isn’t here.
The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.
